


Strings

by caelei



Category: Original Work, not part of a fandom
Genre: Alcohol, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Foster Care, Injury, Poisoning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-11
Updated: 2015-02-11
Packaged: 2018-03-11 15:59:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3331202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caelei/pseuds/caelei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Subject to editing-- or deletion.<br/>Second draft.</p><p>I don't have any confidence in what I do. So most of the time I edit heavily, or I delete completely.</p><p>Warnings for various occurrences of child abuse/neglect in Chapter 1.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Subject to editing-- or deletion.  
> Second draft.
> 
> I don't have any confidence in what I do. So most of the time I edit heavily, or I delete completely.
> 
> Warnings for various occurrences of child abuse/neglect in Chapter 1.

 

* * *

 Scotty

 

2 months

This is the first time his mother forgets him.

His diaper is dirty and she must not have noticed. She's wandered outside into the fresh air on the apartment's small landing. 

She sits out there, and stays for a long time.

 

When she finally comes in to change him, he is red and sore and he's beginning to rash. She sings to him.

 

7 months

This is the forty-ninth time his mother forgets him.

She ambles away halfway through his bath. Shampoo slides into his eyes and the corner of his mouth. 

The water is cold by the time she returns. His lips are blue. 

 

He turns into the warmth of her chest when she picks him up to dry him off. 

 

9 months

This is the one-hundred-and-fourteenth time his mother forgets him.

She dumps steaming mac and cheese onto his high chair. He puts his fingers in and screams. He waves his hands and smashes the noodles. They splatter.

She takes his food away and drops it into the sink and then drifts out and into another room.

 

By the time she comes back to clean him, his hands have gone pink-red and are crusted with dried orange sauce. She runs cold water over his owies and later gives him a cracker.

 

1 year

This is the three-hundred-and-sixty-seventh time his mother forgets him.

There is a pen left on the small table in the living room. He scribbles on himself and the walls and the kitchen floor. 

His punishment is being pushed against the wall, and when he tries to step away she pushes him harder. She takes his hand and scrubs at the markings on the wall with it. 

 

Afterwards he is locked in the kitchen. She puts a piece of ice on the floor when she comes in to get a drink, and he puts it and his skinned fingers into his mouth as he sniffles. 

 

1 year, 5 months

This is the five-hundred-and-forty-second time his mother forgets him.

He hasn't eaten in at least a day. The house is as empty as he is. 

He lays with his hands on his belly and whimpers. His stomach cries out louder than he can.

 

She comes home and falls on the couch, but not before she tosses him a baggie of pretzels.

 

2 years, 1 month

This is the seven-hundred-and-nineteenth time his mother forgets him, and this time he almost dies.

There is a bottle left on the small table in the living room. The cap is off and the juice smells harsh and new.

He is at the hospital having his stomach pumped. His eyes are rolled up into his head and his limbs are twitching and jerking.

 

Later the doctors are talking in low voices. His mother cuddles him and presses a kiss to his cheek and says that it was an accident and she's sorry baby, she's so sorry.

 

2 years, 10 months

This is the nine-hundred-and-eighty-eighth time his mother forgets him, and it is the last time.

She leaves the front door open when she goes out to get the mail, and the apartment is on the second story. 

She hears it when he falls. He's crumpled on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. One of his legs has three bends. His collarbone pokes up against his red-bruised skin.

 

When he is taken away, his mother hugs and cries and waves goodbye. He wails and holds out his one good arm as the stranger carries him from the hospital.

He doesn't see his mother again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Subject to editing or deletion.  
> First draft.

* * *

Scotty

 

it's all wrong

 

there are too many new people

too many smiling faces that pinch in on him

he's never seen so many teeth

too many lifting, grabbing hands

he wants to stay on the ground where it's safe

but that would mean them standing over him

 

there are too many toys

the toys are the worst with their flashing-loud lights and sounds

not like the comforting drone of momma's TV

the toys whirl in on him

and he thinks of the scary movie where they all come alive and they're always watching

and here the grownups are always watching, too

 

there is too much talking all the time

why is it never quiet?

he can't sleep when the new momma reads what they call bedtime stories

and they put him in a cage at night with wooden bars that circle his bed so he can't get away

the nighttime music is playing and there are blankets in that cage

but he wants the sound of his momma snoring, and the warmth of her body together in the big bed

 

too much is different in this new big house

with its new momma and a person called daddy he never knew before

all he thinks is that she will come for him, his real momma

because no matter what happened

like when she used to go away, or when she forgot him

she always came back,  yes, she _always_ came back

 

eventually


End file.
